VIII: The Sorceress's Knight
by Gripsocks
Summary: An interpritation of FFVIII as a movie Saga. Released in 4 parts. The Sorceress's Knight is based on the second disc of the FFVIII Playstation Game. Characters and Story are Copyright of Square.


The Sorceress's Knight

*The film begins with the griever necklace glinting in a red dusk rather than opposed to the orange/ terracotta one in the first.

*This gets brighter and changes into the reflection of the sun in a window of a house in an unknown place. A woman looking out of the window whilst arranging some flowers calls for someone called Ellone, realising she is not there she begins to panic and goes outside only to be stopped by galbadian soldiers who warn her of fiends being around. Scared, she whispers the name 'Laguna'.

*Meanwhile in a quiet field, a small girl, known as Ellone is searching for something in the long grass, eventually she spots movement nearby and investigates, what to be presumed is a monster is actually a small chocobo. Playing with it, she hears a noise and the chocobo runs towards it, afraid that it is a fiend, she runs after the small bird only to find that it is the mother of the baby chocobo. Extremely large, the bird seems friendly but soon runs away. Wondering what the problem is, she soon realises that a fiend is lurking in the grass and it chases her, escaping onto a path, she is then pursued by a flying fiend and is almost caught before she hides behind a large sign. However, she doesn't realise that it is perched on the sign above her; however it is shot to death by Laguna, who Ellone runs to calling him 'uncle Laguna'. The fiend slumps off the bullet ridden sign, which now reveals the word Winhill.

*The two walk back into a small pub/house where they whisper so as not to be caught, however, the woman appears, known as Raine, and scolds Laguna for not letting Ellone get out to the fields. She then scolds Ellone and takes her upstairs because before she has a 'word' with Laguna. However, as Laguna waits, he see's the flowers Raine arranged, smells them, and takes one upstairs. However, he stops when he overhears a Raine telling Ellone why she gets annoyed at Laguna so much. She suspects he is listening at the stairs, but when she looks he has gone. Downstairs he looks at the flower when someone suddenly enters. Realising it is Kiros; he quickly throws the flower out of sight and goes to greet him. The two talk and it is revealed that they both abandoned the galbadian army, Kiros went wondering and Ward lost his voice after the jump off the cliff and Laguna came here to be a journalist after being saved by Raine. Raine then comes down and greets Kiros, revealing how she found Laguna. However, as they laugh, they notice Laguna is not listening as he recognises a song on the radio. As he turns it up, Raine explains that it is Julia Heartliy's new hit. Laguna suddenly remembers her, whilst Kiros says it is familiar to the song that was played back at the hotel in Deling. As the shot zooms into the radio as it plays, the song suddenly changes and an unknown Galbadian soldier wakes up in a transport truck somewhere in a desert on a stormy night.

*Wedge is driving the truck and Biggs, who is in the passenger seat, scolds him for changing song and makes him turn it back to Julia's song 'Eyes on me' calling it a classic. The suddenly in the back, the Unknown Soldier who awoke from the Laguna dream realises is caught off guard when Biggs tells the soldiers in the back that they have arrived at the Desert Prison. Just as they go down into a small tunnel leading underground. Outside, we see the desert prison in the dark, a large, drill like structure.

*Arriving in the base, all the soldiers get out, along with the Unknown Soldier who pulls out a large cowboy hat from behind his seat. As the others go off, he looks see's a group of soldiers huddled around the Squall's and his team mates weapons. The soldier then looks over the railing down into the cylinder structure and then up. Just then a large prison container rises up the cylinder on a crane. Inside the container, it is dark, and as someone stirs, the container stops moving and the lights go on. The person is revealed to be Squall, he realises that the wound he received last time is gone. However he is still drowsy and as he tries to stand as the door opens, to reveal Seifer, who grabs him by the hair before he falls and punches him, knocking him out.

*Somewhere else in the prison, sounds of magic casting can be heard, inside a cell, it is revealed it is Quistis casting different magic against her prison door, failing, she turns around revealing that it is a complete magic barrier, she quickly moves out of the way as Zell runs into view, fly-kicking the door, only to hurt his leg. Selphie then offers to use a GF in which her cell mates quickly reject the idea. Contemplating what they are to do, they wonder what happened to Squall and Rinoa. However they then hear a soldier running past. Zell tells the other two to lie down whilst he quickly runs to the door to get the guards attention, telling him that his cell mates have been bitten by a prison snake, to which Selphie laughs at it. However, the guard opens the door hatch to look inside when Zell suddenly grabs him by the head. However the soldier pulls himself out of his helmet and it is revealed to be Irvine. He puts on his hat, winks at him and says he has 'other orders' before running off as Zell angrily yells at him. Zell proceeds to bang the walls in frustration when the door, or more accurately a smaller hatch in the door opens and a small creature crawls through. Zell frantically asks what it is, whilst Selphie sarcastically replies it could be a prison snake. It is revealed to be a Moomba, a small orange creature that has brought them food. Zell helps it after it suddenly falls down. Trying to talk to it to help them out of the cell, Biggs and Wedge suddenly enter. Biggs angrily hurts the Moomba which causes Zell to get angry. He orders Wedge to hit Zell in the chest, he then reveals they are all helpless and even if they did escape they don't happen to have their weapons to protect them, to which Zell states that his fists are his weapon and punches Biggs, Wedge then attacks back but Zell ducks and Biggs receives the hit. Zell then kicks Wedge into the door knocking it through. Biggs grabs Selphie but is kicked hard in the chest by Quistis. Outside the cell, Wedge and Zell fight. As he dodges Wedges sword, he ducks under another swing, does a handstand and grabs Wedge by his head with his feet, pulls him up so he is standing on Wedges shoulders and then sweeps him in the face whilst doing a back flip. He then runs up a wall as Wedge casts magic, jumps off the wall just as Quistis casts repel at Wedge, blasting him into the air as Zell lands neatly on the balcony rail and catches him by the throat, before hanging him over the railing, demanding to know where their weapons and the others are.

*Meanwhile, at the top of the prison in the torture room. Squall is strapped to an electric panel which rotates down as he is questioned by Seifer, and electrocuted when he resists answering. Seifer eventually becomes impatient and fires his gunblade near his head. He then reveals his gunblade is out of bullets due to his last encounter with Squall, so in return, he uses Squalls own gunblade to fire at him with instead.

*Back downstairs, a soldier playing with Quistis's whip is confronted by her, he tries to use it but injures himself, he then charges at her but Zell is hiding behind the corner and close lines him. Selphie then confronts another guard with her nun chucks, he appears skilled with them and attacks her straight on but she quickly tangles him in his own attack with them and breaks his arm, twisting him over onto the floor before sending another guard spinning as he arrives. Another guard manages to reach the security but she stops him short and sends him spinning into the switch anyway, setting the alarm off. Below, Zell and Quistis agree that it was Selphie.

*The alarm suddenly sounds in the torture room, forcing Seifer to leave; knocking a bunch of Moomba's out of the way, asking why they even use the creatures. The Warden continues the torture, however when he thinks Squall says something he suddenly hears the Moomba's chant 'Laguna' at Squall. They move towards him scaring the Warden. They suddenly begin to free Squall from the rack, forcing the Warden to turn on the electricity to get them off, which electrocutes Squall. The Moomba's surround the Warden, forcing him to flee, the Moomba's then jump one Moomba jumps bites into the wires, electrocuting itself in the process. Squall is freed and manages to find a potion that heals the fallen Moomba. The rest of them praise him.

Down below, Seifer arrives at SeeD's cell to discover that Biggs and Wedge have been locked inside it.

Up above, Zell, Quistis and Selphie are suddenly attacked by a security machine and Zell is batted around and almost off the edge of the balcony, when it leans over to shoot him, Quistis and Selphie cast confusion at it. Zell manages to grab onto its back and pull himself over it as it topples over the edge however, the soldier inside also crawls out as well carrying a gun. After a small struggle, the gun goes flying, and the soldier is chucked over the railing, which below, Wedge sees fly past as Seifer threatens them all, however he can't say as Biggs stops him from talking and getting them into more trouble. Zell is suddenly confronted by the Warden who tortured Squall, who now possess the gun the soldier had. However before he can shoot him, Squall, who has heard the battle cries, leaps off the floor above and lands directly behind the Warden, slicing him down. Zell, who is glad to see Squall, hugs him just as Quistis and Selphie arrive. Instantly they are attacked by flying security machines. Ducking they are they are then trapped by more soldiers. However, the enemies are soon shot down from the floor above by Irvine, who is joined by Rinoa.

Below, Seifer and the rest of the soldiers hear the gunfire and he orders Biggs and Wedge to go up and get them, he stays, knowing that they will have to come down eventually as they will be trapped up there.

Rinoa, who is glad to see Squall's alive but complains that she had to persuade Irvine to come back for the rest of them. Squall is some what resistant to any concern which disappoints Rinoa, Selphie however is glad to see Irvine. Zell interrupts their moment by suggesting how they get out, Rinoa explains that the whole thing is underground and the top is the way out. Irvine explains that the prison is now raised, so he will stay behind and search for away to lower them down. Zell, jealous of Selphie being in awe of grief for Irvine's bravery, stays behind too, stating he knows where the controls are as he dreamt of ward again who worked in this very prison and knows where the control room is. The lift suddenly rises to the top as enemies begin to arrive. Separating, Irvine heads down with Zell while Squall and the three women jump onto the top of the lift as it rises. Hanging on, they all jump off as it reaches the top and head for the doorway which leads to a large bridge. However, Biggs and Wedge emerge with two robots as Squall dodges their gunfire. Making their way across the bridge, Squall stops short when the robot catches up with and jumps over him. Blocked by two robots, he prepares to fight them both. Biggs and Wedge stop themselves at the edge of the tower when they realise the bridge floor is beginning to disappear. Squall suddenly realises the tower is lowering as well when the floor goes. Grabbing onto the balcony, the two robots fall through the gap as the tower drills into the ground. The bridge then flips horizontally and Squall falls down onto the other railing. Crawling along he manages to get to the end of the walkway, climbing on but he loses his gunblade along the way, dropping it into the sand. The sand settles and the prison has almost completely disappeared.

Success below has struck as Zell finds the control panel, feeling proud, however he suddenly realises that Irvine was never making a sacrifice when he reveals a way out by transport, which was the way he came in.

Up above on ground level, Squall pulls his gunblade from the sand, and holds it in both hands as it glints in the sunlight. He makes his way back to the garage bunker they emerged in, which has transport. Although all concerned about Zell and Irvine, Squall explains that they cannot do anything and must continue with the mission. However as they drive along, another bunker rises out of the ground, revealing a secret passage from which Irvine and Zell emerge in a transport vehicle in. Selphie runs enthusiastically towards Irvine, passing Zell, who thought she was coming to hug him. Squall states that they must all go to Galbadia Garden to state their innocence. However, Selphie expects Irvine knows something. He tells Squall that the sorceress plans to launch missiles at Balamb and Tribia Garden, Squall is shocked at this and Selphie is distraught. Zell, in anger, punches Irvine for not telling them earlier when they could have done something about it. Selphie decides she needs to go to the missile base to stop them from launching, as she transferred from Tribia. Squall decides to go to Balamb to warn them of the attack, Zell decides to go with Selphie, as does Irvine much to Zell's dislike, however Quistis insists Rinoa come with Squall and her. Squall gives Selphie a lamp telling her to use it if they need help. The two teams split off as the sun sets.

News hits Balamb Garden that SeeD have escaped and now Galbadia will be targeting other Gardens on the charge of treachery. Cid hears the news with Xu; the SeeD faculty suddenly turn on him, not to his surprise. He asks that they do not hurt the students when he hears them close ranks in the lobby below. Among them is the adult Ellone.

As a cloud storm begins to gather, Irvine drives their truck into line with another series of galbadian trucks. Realising they are going to be checked, Zell finds some spare suits in the back. Putting them on, they pass through.

Parking on the base, soldiers run across the storm field as the signal lights flash. They are all packed into an elevator as it descends down. Emerging in the base, they move with the ranks across through the security check and are given designated positions, which splits Zell from the rest of them. Irvine and Selphie are moved into the missile basement, where they find the missiles heading for Garden. As they investigate away to stop it, they find a security terminal which they try to access but Selphie is caught. Irvine saves her though and tells her to go and find the central control room. Down below, Zell moves in line and finds the head generators, above he see's Wedge and Biggs arrive, injured from their last encounter. They warn them of their infiltration, Biggs notices Zell looking at them and tells Wedge to go get him. Security arrive to find Irvine and but can't open fire due to the missiles, Irvine opens on them using accurate shots and runs into the factory. Zell, panicking as Wedge gets closer, tries to escape the line. Wedge, pushing through, causes members of the line to attack him, calling Biggs for help as Biggs frantically orders him to get Zell. The alarm suddenly goes off, distracting everyone. During the chaos, Zell bumps into a large soldier, who shoves him against the railings, knocking others down. As security go both ways to resolve the disturbances, Zell charges the aggressive guard over the railing with himself, both falling to the generator floor. Irvine flees gun fire but is stopped by the lockdown in the room. As missiles begin to be transported, he is revealed and shot at. Jumping on a moving missile, no one can shoot him unless they hit it. Jumping onto another one, someone shoots the cart wheels causing Irvine to fall off as it comes to a hault. Running around the other side, he is almost crushed by another missile which slams into the broken down one but barley gets through. Running into the empty cargo area, he is surrounded by the guards but threatens to detonate a handheld explosive. Not believing him he pulls the cap and throws it at them, as they panic, one manages to kick it under an empty cart. Irvine jumps to the floor, avoiding gunfire and shoots the explosive, flipping the cart into the air where it lands on the soldiers. As Selphie fights her way through the chaos, she hears the countdown for the first set of missiles heading for Trebia. Hurrying, she doesn't notice Biggs follow her. Below, Zell runs along a cat walk which is shot down by other soldiers. Falling close to the furnace, he flees gunfire down a small generator alley, turning each of the generators to full power before reaching a dead end. At the other end soldiers appear and aim at him but the generators, now full, blast steam out so they lose sight of Zell as he runs through the steam as they fire. Colliding with them, he rolls under them upper cutting one, kicking another down and casting repel as a third fires, blasting him back. He then shoves Wedge into a boiling generator and uses ice to freeze him to it.

Above, Selphie breaks into the control room and takes out the guards. Bringing up the data on the panel, she tries to stop the missiles in the countdown. Outside, the missiles emerge from the ground and take aim. Desperately trying to stop them, Selphie looks for the detonation button. However, the countdown ends, and the missiles set off. Selpihe, distraught, cries with grief. Biggs suddenly enters the room, mocking her. She angrily attacks him but in revenge for his past beatings he casts blizzard against her, knocking her against through the window and onto the balcony outside. Clinging onto the edge above a boiler with her nun chucks. A guard appears whom he thinks is Wedge, but it's Zell and he knocks Biggs to the ground. In the control room, Zell forces Biggs to tell him how to stop the launch. Revealing its set in motion, Zell only hopes that Squall can stop the missiles in time. Selphie, realising they can't leave the base, redirects a second third set of missiles to attack the base so Balamb can be saved. However the first set will take an hour to reach while the third is quicker, the evacuation alarm goes off and the place prepares for destruction, releasing Irvine from the missile room. Biggs suddenly escapes and seals the control room up. Trapped, Zell tries to break the door down. However, Irvine shoots it down and they escape. Emerging outside just as the second set of missiles set off, they are stopped from leaving by Biggs who is equipped in a tank. He has clearly gone mad and attempts to keep them all their, bragging that the tank will survive the blast with him in it but they won't. Angry, Selphie throws the lamp at Biggs, which he laughs at and drops to the floor of the tank. Next to them, the third set of missiles take aim, targeted to come back to them. Biggs, aiming at them with the tank gun, plans to kill Selphie himself but Irvine and Zell stand in the way. Laughing, he does not realise the lamp is rumbling as something inside it stirs. As Biggs looks at it, he hears it cry "Who has disturbed my sleep?" just as the missiles set off. The lamp then explodes and black smoke rises up towards a screaming Biggs. The others watch as the GF demon Diablos emerges from the tank with Biggs swinging in his grasp. They fly up to the air, through the missiles where Biggs is obliterated by Diablos, who vaporises as the missiles rush through him. As they go into the air, there is silence, a low rumbling, and then they come cascading down in the same shot. The missile base is destroyed with the three heroes inside it.

The smoke transfers into steam from the train as it arrives at Balamb. Squall and the others race outside to see Garden in the distance; however Galbadia guards are in the area so they are all forced into the local hotel. However, when they arrive upstairs they are attacked by Raijin and Fujin. Quistis disarms Raijin whilst Rinoa shoots her blade at Fujin's arm, sticking her and her weapon to the wall. She demands Squall to tell her where Seifer is. He reveals that he is alive, but now with the Galbadians. Deciding to help Seifer, they consider joining him in the war against SeeD but they decide to let the others go, warning them of trouble at Garden and that there was an evacuation of students to Fisherman's Horizon by SeeD ships., they give them the keys to the car they used to get to the town. Driving away, escaping the guards, they reach Balamb and crash straight through the central gates and into the building using the main entrance, only to find it empty. Going up to Cid's office, they find him but are caught in an ambush. He explains that the Garden's financer, NORG, is turning them over and joining the sorceress out of fear. They are taken to NORG, a large exiled Shumi and now the Garden master living deep beneath the school. Squall informs him of the missile attack, but NORG reveals his loyalty to Galbadia, believing he will be spared if he kills the ex-prisoners. Devising a plan, he tells Quistis and Rinoa to take Cid and barricade themselves in the office whilst he will find away to mobilise the Garden. Fleeing the faculty, they split up. Quistis is cornered by NORG, she tells Cid and Rinoa to run to the office. Squall makes his way down into the basement of the Garden. Climbing along the pipes the faculty summon the GF Cerberus to attack him. Jumping from pipe to a cat walk, the walkway is destroyed and Squall launches himself off it as he slides down, avoiding the mouth of Cerberus and landing on a platform. However, Ifrit is then cast as well, exploding fire which his quickly blocked by Squall who casts Leviathan around him, causing them to fall off the ledge. However Cerberus rise again and Squall draws his gun blade. Above Quistis attacks NORG with her whip, but he uses it to pull her over him, disarming her. She attempts to get it back but is sent flying into some electrical wires by NORG. However, she casts fire into his face and regains her whip whilst he is distracted. She then casts fire on her whip and uses it to scold him, forcing him to the edge of the balcony. Up above, Rinoa leads Cid to the elevator where they are surrounded by the faculty. In desperation, she attempts to use a GF even though she's never been trained how. She manages to cast Tonberry, who knifes and kills one of the attacking Faculty members to their surprise. Down below, Squall is climbing a ladder to the cat walk that will lead him to the control room. He slices a head off Cerberus when it attempts to attack him but the GF Shiva freezes the ladder, sticking Squall to it. On a ledge near by, NORG stumbles and falls into the electrical wires below. Quistis see's Squall struggling and Cerberus rising to get him, throwing her burning whip in a circular fashion, she cuts the ladder in two and it falls forward, sending Squall crashing through the control room window.

Above in the sky not far from Balamb, the missiles are flying towards their destination, flying down to the ocean surface, they race to the north. Inside Balamb Squall desperately attempts to activate the security door below from the control room. He attempts to cast thunder to engage the system but it's not enough. Behind, him the risen GF Quarzortal rises and blasts electricity into the booth as Squall jumps out the doorway and onto the decapitated middle head of Cerberus as they fly to the ground, but jumps off onto the large walkway, cutting off the monsters other two heads in turn. Quistis joins him below. Taking out the faculty members when she summons Diablos, running through the door as they scream in fear behind her. Inside the mobile room they activate the control system and begin to transform the Garden just as the missiles approach. Above, Rinoa attempts to protect Cid in the office when they hear the ship transforming. Below Squall and Quistis are raised on a platform through the centre of the school and straight up into the office, making Cid rise and aiding Rinoa in the fight against the faculty. In the town, people begin to hear the missiles getting closer as everyone looks out to sea. Back in the office, Squall quickly takes control of the gears and makes the Garden rise and move just in time as the missiles fly over the town. The Garden just about escapes the blast and makes it out to the ocean.

Out on the disused train bridge to Fisherman's horizon, Zell, Irvine and Selphie stop the tank and look at the rising smoke from across the sea. Selphie prays that they made it out okay. Back in Galbadia Garden, Seifer informs the Sorceress of the failure to destroy the SeeD. In anger, she throws him across the room. Angering him, he attempts to show disobedience but for the first time he is taught to obey as he is beaten into submission. Instead of killing him though, she decides to use his hate and promote him to commander of their next attack.

Back in the dream world, Laguna wakes up to Ellone calling him. Awaking, he investigates her bedroom, and finds that she isn't there. Panicking, he races outside to find the bodies of the galbadian soldiers. He notices that the pub has also been broken into. Going inside, he finds Rayne, sitting alone at the bar. Walking towards her, she suddenly mimics the voice of Ellone and turns around, to see her face which is now unrecognizable, but that of the Sorceress Adel. She suddenly blasts Laguna through the window with magic and the sorceress emerges without disguise. On the bridge, Laguna glimpses Ellone being held captive by some Esther Guards. Trying to reach her, he passes out. The real Rayne then rushes downstairs, clearly pregnant, and tries to help Laguna. However Adel sets half the village on fire with one blast, trapping her inside. Laguna, torn between helping the two, is saved by Kiros from the Esther guards who rush forward to kill him. Laguna rushes into the pub and saves Rayne. Kiros informs him that the guards are gone, and so have Ellone and Adel. Running after them, he finds that all the grass and crops on the meadow has been singed to the ground.

Squall wakes up also screaming in the hospital room with Rinoa by his side. And also a familiar woman. She reveals herself to be Ellone, after some talking, it is revealed that she has been showing Squall the dreams. However, he grows angry of her for doing this and leaves. Rinoa attempts to chase him down but he blows her off. Meanwhile at Fishermans Horizon, Balamb Garden arrives in large wave much to the celebration of the evacuated students, who greet their heroes enthusiastically when they arrive. Rinoa and Quistis are relieved to be reunited with Irvine, Zell and Selphie as well. Irvine slaps Quistis on the bum but receives a slap from her and then Selphie. However Squall saunters away when he is congratulated leaving the students stunned. Ellone finds him in the Library and explains that she showed him the dreams so she could help him defeat the sorceress. She hints that Adel that he saw in his dreams as Laguna was merely a powerful pawn of the true Sorceress, Ultimecia. However, the others were listening in and she explains to everyone that Ultimecia commanded the kidnap of herself because she had the ability of time compression. However, she found out that she could only show History, not alter it, which was Adel's aim, and thus she built a large time travelling device which was hidden long ago, and must never be risen again. White SeeD suddenly appear outside the Garden in their ship and demand over Ellone. Squall tries to stop them but Ellone goes with them anyway, knowing that she must.

Squall, depressed, decides to go to his dorm to think things over. Rinoa, wanting to help Squall, decides to throw a party for him. That night Squall emerges outside to find Fishermans Horizon to be in party central and dedicated to Squall. However he disappears when he sees's Rinoa. She later finds him sitting on the ledge of the basin, and tries to explain her feelings for him. Angry, he rebuffs her which leads to a vicious argument between the two and Rinoa disappears. Regretting what he said, he attempts to find her but is stopped by an angry Zell who saw what happened. Squall gets angry with him and a confrontation begins, bringing the party to a silent halt, with all eyes interrupting them. Quistis and Irvine break them up, to which Squall storms off, re-enouncing his commitment to SeeD, deciding to leave even though Cid tries to stop him. Halfway down the railroad though, he notices that time begins to slow and a dark haze moves above him. Lights begin to flash and go out, he prepares for battle believing it to be the sorceress. However, it is instead Seifer, and Raijin and Fujin. He tells him that he has learned a few tricks from Edea. Squall attempts to attack him but is quickly overpowered as Seifer takes him down but does not kill him. He instead destroys Squall's gunblade and tells him of the attack on Balamb Garden which is soon to come and that SeeD and everyone in it will be exterminated if he does not give up Ellone, giving them until noon tomorrow.

Back in Balamb in Cid's office, he and the group contemplate what they are going to do when Squall bursts in. They are happy for his return but he reveals the news of what is to come. They decide it is best to go to see Ellone and the Garden leaves Fisherman's Horizon.

Arriving next to the ship at the rise of dawn, Squall and the others tell the White SeeD and Ellone of the problem they face. The White SeeD reveal they cannot give Ellone over as Edea would destroy the world with her. Cid arrives and decides what is to happen. He explains that he believes Ellone must not be given up, even if it means going to war with Galbadia Garden. The others are weary and are confused about Cid's motives. Outside on the deck, Squall looks at Balamb as the sun rises; Rinoa joins him and gently persuades him to help, putting her hand on his. He doesn't realise that everyone is watching behind him. However, instead of blowing them off, he agrees to fight against Galbadia.

Garden prepares itself for the attack, asking all students to gather downstairs in the lobby and be sent to their designated positions. Young students are to be accompanied in groups to separate classrooms whilst SeeD are asked to gather at the entrance and prepare for docking. Garden flies over Fisherman's Horizon, erupting cheers from the city below. In the headmaster's room, Cid gives Squall charge in the attack, assuring him that the students will fight if they know he's fighting with them. Accepting this, Squall commands Quistis to help guard the classrooms and Irvine, Zell and Selphie to board the Galbadia when they can. Zell then asks Squall if he can borrow his ring, griever. Confused, Squall gives him the ring. However he soon realises that he cannot find Rinoa. Panicking, he abandons his own station to find her.

They arrive at Galbadia to find the garden has gone. After a moments silence, it is broken by the sound of Galbadia Garden, now also mobile, flying around the corner armed and ready. As this happens, Squall frantically orders them to get out of the hills and to flat ground. Xu steers the Garden through a thin gap as melee is shot at them from Galbadia. Getting into open land, the Gardens circle each other. Galbadia fires a large missile underneath Balamb just as Cid activates the barrier device. The explosion seems to have wiped them out; however, the garden emerges from the debris unharmed. Rinoa watches from a balcony outside, before running to another one when debris suddenly falls from above and shatters on the spinning plates below. A small shaft opens on their opponents Garden, revealing Seifer, who commands the Galbadian troops to fly over on motorcycles and jet packs. As the students watch from the classroom as the troops fly over, the cyclists on the outside rev onto a glass roof, smashing it with their weapons and dropping in to the lobby. Chasing students down, Irvine opens fire on one, causing him to crash into the fountain, Selphie jumps clean over one and strangles him with her nun chuck. The rest of them drive down onto the dance floor, circling Quistis and number of other students as she whips her whip around in the blur of the action taking a number of them out. Above on the elevator walkway, Zell spots some Galbadian soldiers on the glass roof and casts fire, smashing it. They fall through, but half way down Zell jumps off the walkway and kicks one into the wall as he falls, he then lands on another one using him to catapult him into the elevator. However, he looses his grip and struggles as a jet packed trooper flies towards him. However, Squall leaps onto the elevator from a ledge above and cuts down the trooper, sending him spiralling into the architecture. Arriving on the top floor they spilt up. Inside one of the classrooms soldiers come through the windows to attack the young students, however Squall rushes in and cuts them down with his gunblade, taking them all on at once. He manages to pursue one into the corridor where he chases him out on to a balcony where Rinoa takes him out with her crossbow. Pleased to find her, they suddenly hear a roar from Galbadia. Down below in the ball room where the fight has gathered, everyone hears it to. Looking over the balcony, Rinoa see's powerful GF's emerging from Galbadia. Suddenly Diablo's destroys half the balcony, causing Rinoa to fall off the edge. However, she hangs on below. Below Cactus suddenly flies into the open top ball room shooting a thousand needles. Mass panic begins as people fall and glass smashes in the destruction. However, after it has gone, Ifrit climbs into the room from above. Selphie, taking a stand summons GF Ifrit as well, and for the first time successfully as she calls him to her aid. The two beasts collide and clash in the sky causing a large explosion. After a cheer, other students start casting GF's as well to fight off the other ones. Soon GF's are flying everywhere, Seifer realises this and orders the two gardens to collide, also seeing Squall. Squall see's him as well and tries to communicate that Rinoa is hanging below in hope of stopping him. But it's too late. However, she survives the collision but falls lower, soon to fall to the metal plate below.

Unable to reach her, he goes back inside when more cyclists fly across. He takes them out in the hallway, slicing and firing his gunblade but being cut by one of their blades in the process. The balcony entrance then collapses in, blocking him from Rinoa. Taking one of the bikes, he races around the upper rim corridor, seeing Leviathan rise up and around the room, he launches himself of the walkway and onto it's back using it as a ramp to fly out the roof. Landing on the roof, he drives down and around the crumbling architecture, avoiding GF's attacking the place. He notices Garden is trying to board Galbadia. Running down the ramp are Irvine, Selphie, Zell and Quistis. However, before he can do anything Diablos attacks. Speeding over it, he weaves away from its attack as he smashes through garage down below as the GF snatches for him. He shoots it with his gunblade before driving up a broken column and up into the air when he is struck by its tail. Falling, he swats away the tail with his blade and grabs his bike in time, revving it in mid air to land and slide down the front window and onto the rotating plate below where he is pursed by a GF called doom train, tearing up the plate. Diablos dives at him but Squall uses the limit on his gun and fires a large blast of magic into it. Defeated, it crashes into the garden, and into the training room. Inside Balamb, the emergency alarm sounds as the fiends kept in the training centre escape and cause chaos within the place. In Galbadian Garden, Seifer orders a second ram, this time to tilt Balamb. The movement causes Irvine and the gang to loose balance and slide down onto Galbadia. Squall skids across the plate, realising he cannot outrun Doomtrain and flies off the edge. However, in his death experience, he luckily collides with a jet pack trooper. The two struggles as they fly around the Garden which is now falling apart, they fly over its structure and witness the battle inside and out. Inside as the Garden tilts; everyone falls to the side and slides to the nearest walls. Some oncoming Galbadian soldiers fall back the way they came through the entrance, while water overflows out of the lobby and washes everyone into the dance hall where the fight continues as the Garden regains balance. Upstairs Xu takes down two soldiers on jet packs which smash through the skylight. Cid uses his magic to trap one in a bubble while Xu handles regains the controls and manages to land the Garden, because of power failure. Eventually Squall knocks the guy off and uses the pack to fly down and save Rinoa, who is using her crossbow to battle the GF brothers. Squall saves Rinoa just in time and the two fly over the ground as Galbadia Garden prepares to crush Balamb. As Cid see's this out of the window, Xu suggests they evacuate but instead Cid draws on his GF on the smashed balcony. Over the cliff on the raging seas, the afternoon son lights Alexander as it emerges from the water. The GF releases several small missiles which shoot at Galbadia and destroys its Hover ring. Squall and Rinoa watch as it crashes in front of them, stopping just before it reaches Balamb. They land on Galbadia entrance to join the fight with Irvine, Quistis, Selphie, Zell and the surviving SeeD cadets. Beneath each Garden, we see hatches open up as SeeD's and Galbadians rush out on to the ground to finish their war. On the Entrance above where the group had once stood before travelling to Deling, Squall leads everyone in a one on one battle with the enemy. From the school entrance, we suddenly see Seifer descend the steps and fire out against them as more soldiers pour down the steps from behind him. Rinoa spots him first, and Squall can do nothing as he is trapped in battle, only able to glimpse her chase after Seifer, who retreats back into the school.

Inside, Rinoa pursues Seifer into the now empty lobby. He turns around to meet her attack, and swiftly dodges them, getting the upper hand, he threatens to shoot her. She disarms him and punches him. He retaliates by knocking her to the ground; he stares at her on the floor angrily. Asking why she has turned on him, they were meant to be together. She tells him he betrayed her. He states that he did what he did for her, for the Timber Owls, because he loves her. She tells him he loved his dream not her, he's not her knight. Seifer asks who is then, and notices the griever ring on her finger, backing away, Squall suddenly appears and the regret and sadness on Seifer's face turns back to anger. They aim their gun blades at each other but Rinoa stands between them. Rinoa tries to tell Seifer to come back to them, and he begins to listen when suddenly we hear a voice tell Seifer he serves only one. Shooting at Rinoa, she suddenly shields herself with magic like Edea had when she blocked Irvine's bullet. Squall suddenly rushes past her, charging at Seifer as he teleports away. Squall reaches him in time, and is teleported with him, as Irvine and the others burst into the lobby.

Inside the auditorium, Seifer and Squall burst through the portal and slam onto the podium. They enter into close combat and Seifer manages to wind Squall and send him flying over the podium edge and into the seating of the audience area. Getting up, Squall charges his limit break and blasts it at the podium. However Seifer teleports away and it sets the Galbadian flag alight behind the podium. As it burns away, Squall turns to see a singed Seifer collapsed on the steps before he disappears out of the doorway.

Meanwhile, Rinoa, Irvine, Quistis, Selphie and Zell encounter the surviving Biggs and Wedge in the school Hallways whilst searching for Squall and Seifer. Biggs reveals Wedge found him in the desert and gave him a phoenix down. Telling Wedge to give them their dues, Selphie suddenly scolds Wedge for helping Biggs after they had saved him. A guilty Wedge looks apprehensive and tells Biggs he is unable to kill them. Angrily, Biggs grabs Wedges sword while Zell sends a limit break at him. Biggs moves Wedge in the way of it, sending his comrade down the corridor unconscious. Biggs then pulls out a grenade and in slow motion it is thrown. Biggs dives onto the stairs as the grenade goes under Zell's shoulder. It bounces between Selphie and Irvine, who tries to protect her as Zell attempts to shove Quistis out of harms way, coming face to face with it on the ground. It explodes, knocking Biggs up the stairs. As the debris clears to reveal a burnt corridor, we see the unarmed group encased in magic conjured by Rinoa. The group look on amazed before they charge after Biggs, who flee's upstairs. They split up, and Rinoa begins to hear Edea beckoning her. Seeing the doors of the master room, she enters it to see the silhouetted Sorceress across the glass floor above the auditorium. Outside the others hear the Master room door close and believe they've found him.

They chase him up there only to find Sorceress Edea alone in the master room. Facing her, they promise her defeat. However she laughs it off, and reveals to them their foreseen demise at the hands of her. Rinoa asks why she is doing this; she explains that Sorceress's will rule for all time after this day. She demands Ellone from them, but Quistis denies her this. However, when Rinoa speaks up, Edea eyes her up shockingly. The two gazes into each others eyes and Selphie realises she is in a trance. Irvine aims his gun and fires, but the bullet is stopped mid air by her and she sends it back at Rinoa, who stops it with her own magic. Edea smiles and states there is a second sorceress among them. Confused, Rinoa denies it, but Edea tells her she can spot her own. Rinoa tells the others it is another lie but they stand still shocked, Edea gives Rinoa the evidence, her shielding abilities, she saved the others down in the corridor, and managed to defeat the Brothers GF alone, we quickly see the moment before Squall saved her, repelling the GF's attacks with her magic, forcing one to kill the other with hers. Crying, Rinoa tells her to stop; she will never be a sorceress. Edea tells her that Rinoa herself has known all along, she's fighting against what she's destined to become, and not long from now, it will be her in this chair. Edea tells the others that as SeeD's; they must kill her, or perish. Down below in the auditorium, Squall and Seifer battle through the door way and down the steps as Seifer teleports away and they begin to send magic spells at eachother. Seifer is electrocuted and Squall is sent up into a blizzard onto the balcony above where Seifer teleports to as well. Injured, Squall wearily looks up at Seifer who tells Squall of his hate for him, and how he will be the Sorceress's Knight forever, and will wipe out all those who seek to harm her. He reveals he would always tell Squall about his romantic dream. Above in the master room, the others don't move as Rinoa breaks down. Edea tells her to join her, or she will die at the hands of her friends, but if she came over, she could kill them instead, forcing Rinoa to look up in horror, seeing Squall fall off the podium seemingly dead back in Deling. The others rush out from behind her to attack Edea.

She then gathers all of her magic in the room and like before time seems to slow down. The others slow as down below Seifer raises his gunblade to lay the killing strike on the fallen Squall. She draws Rinoa towards her, but the young sorceress tries to stop herself as she is dragged over the glass. Through the glass, she see's the balcony on which Seifer and Squall are situated. Screaming for him, she bangs on the glass and suddenly see's Edea's face reflected in it. She turns to see her at her feat, telling Rinoa she must release Adel or die. Rinoa uses her magic to repel her but is weakened, the glass floor cracks from the energy eradiated from her powers. Drawing her cross bow at Edea as she reaches down towards her, Rinoa suddenly embeds the cross in the glass as hard as she can. The large crack connects with the others and it breaks, and time moves again, but Rinoa falls through the floor along with Edea into the auditorium below, falling to her certain death. Edea lands on the podium, seemingly unharmed. Squall suddenly lifts his blade to block Seifer and he teleports the two of them into the master room above. At the edge of the broken floor, Seifer then suddenly realises the others are behind him and grabs Squall and puts the blade to his throat, telling them to back away. However Squall suddenly pushes himself backwards, knocking himself and Seifer off the edge much to the horror of the others who rush to help him. Falling down to their own deaths, clashing swords on the way down, Squall is saved by a spilt second when Quistis catches his leg with her whip. Seifer is saved by Edea. Stopping him in time and lowering him down. He then see's Squall dangling and notices he has dropped his gunblade. Spying his chance he rushes towards him, but Zell slides down the whip and tackles Seifer. The two enter a vicious battle as he swings for Zell, weaving through the swings; Zell shoves Seifer against the podium and unleashes a spray of fists into him. However, Seifer angrily stuns him in the face and slices him across the chest. Quistis then lowers Squall down to reach his gunblade and then flips him back up into the air and down into Seifer's path, over Zell, locking gunblades.

Seifer proceeds to parry him before fleeing around the sides of the auditorium, running along it's walls and somersaulting over Squalls attacks and onto the benches and computers, Squall rebounds off the wall and onto them as well as the two weave with each others strikes along the benches, destroying the electrical panels in a series of sparks and flashes. Seifer then jumps off Squalls gun blade and into the air, coming down with a strike that destroys everything within a perfect circle of him, sending Squall flying across the room and into a Galbadian flag. Walking down the aisle gleefully, Seifer does not expect for Squall to rise again and use his limit to turn Seifer's Blade red hot from a distance away, forcing him to drop it, he then cuts Seifer up in the same movement and sends him flying into the monument above the door. Raijin and Fujin then enter through the doors and tend to Seifer. However, he rejects their help when Squall refuses to kill him, not allowing himself to sink to that level. Rushing forward he suddenly stops when he notices something behind Squall in the small trench separating the seats and the centre. Squall and he look down in horror at the lifeless body of Rinoa, cut and covered in glass at an odd angle. Seifer looks desperately at Edea, who tells him she chose death, because the knight chose not to protect her. Confused, she reveals to Squall and Seifer that Rinoa was a sorceress.

She tells him that it is SeeD's fault, it was them who killed her, they knew, Cid knew, it was always their mission to kill the Sorceress. Seifer goes into a rage, retrieving his gunblade and attacking Squall. However Squall counter-attacks, sending Seifer into the air where he uses the portal again, this time moving to the other side of the room, disrupting some of the overhanging architecture as he does. Weak, Edea scolds him. Humiliated, he does not realise the architecture above is crumbling away. Squall attempts to save him but, much to the horror of Raijin and Fujin, the falling stone crushes Seifer, killing him instantly.

With Rinoa and Seifer both dead, Edea levitates above the podium, ready to destroy Squall. She tells him that the Sorceress and the Knight are now dead, the romantic dream of a child finished and soon Adel will be raised and from there she will find Ellone as the new host, and Ultimecia will reign again and all of time will be hers. Drained of emotion, he wearily attempts to ready himself. However, as Edea surrounds herself with black magic, she glimpses his necklace and says quietly with confusion, 'Griever?' She is suddenly shot straight through the chest. She falls back down and collapses on the podium. The bullet whole, a dark sticky mass on her heart, was caused by none other than Irvine, above in the master room. Finally completing his assignation of Edea. As she ponders her death, a smile suddenly evolves on her face, which soon becomes distorted. Suddenly a stream of dark magic gushes out of her and into the air. Screams can be heard as a tornado of dark magic devours the room, tearing it apart. As Squall protects Rinoas body, he glimpses a figure on the podium, a different sorceress entirely. He suddenly shouts ultimecia, causing the apparition to fly towards him. Opening his eyes, everything is silent. However, he notices that the room has gone still, almost frozen, so has everyone else in it apart from him. He looks down at Rinoa, only to see her face deformed into a grotesque like expression, almost like Edea. Horrified, she jolts at him and the screen goes black. The next scene is in the same room, Squall comes to on the floor. Other students have entered the room, having won the battle outside, confused by what they are seeing. The others are crowded around Rinoa, who is apparently now still alive. However, Seifer's body is gone. Everyone then looks up at the podium to see Edea struggle herself up, her face now free from the markings of the sorceress. Looking down upon Squall, Zell, Irvine, Quistis, and Selphie she greets them all as her children. The last thing we see is Balamb and Galbadia Gardens, both on the ground in extremely damaged conditions as the sun sets.

The Griever symbol glints in the darkness, along with 'to be continued', and then credits.

**Scene Selection:**

***Eyes on Me**

***The Prison under the Sand**

***Traitors Escape**

***Squall's Torture/ the Search**

***Irvine Returns**

***Escape up the Shaft **

***The Sandstorm Decent**

***The Strike on SeeD**

***The Missile Base**

***Security Alert**

***The Launch**

***Biggs VS Selphie/ the Magic Lamp**

***Raijin & Fujin**

***The Warning**

***NORG**

***The Missile Strike**

***The Kidnapping**

***Ellone**

***Fishermans Horizon**

***Rinoa's Party**

***Squalls Mistake**

***Seifer's Threat**

***White SeeD**

***Preparation**

***Squall Takes Command**

***Balamb VS Galbadia**

***The Search for Rinoa**

***The GF battle/ Squall VS Diablos**

***The War/ Squall saves Rinoa**

***The Auditorium**

***The Sorceress's Premonition**

***Death of the Romanic Dream**

***The Assassination **

***"My Children"/ Credits**


End file.
